1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems for assuring that a person presenting him or herself as a particular person is, in fact, that person.
2. Prior Art
As technology has developed over the years, the need to quickly identify persons with certainty for purposes of access control and for various commercial transactions such as the extension of credit and banking has become of critical importance. For example, so called "smart" credit cards are coming into use and there is substantial risk of large financial losses to the owner of such a card if it falls into the wrong hands without a way of checking the identity of the possessor. "Smart" credit cards may include the facility for maintaining complete records of an individual's bank balance and his or her transactions so that a merchant accepting such a card need not confirm a balance with the issuing bank, but can extend credit based on the record contained within the credit card itself. If, however, the presenter of the card is not the actual owner of the card, as, for example, if the card is stolen, credit should not be extended. It is therefore desirable, and in some cases essential, that there be a means for positively and quickly identifying the card presenter as being the actual person he or she purports to be.
Positive identification is also important in other contexts. Credit type cards with machine readable codes are commonly used to control access to restricted areas. For this purpose it is often essential that positive identification of the presenter be quickly made else unauthorized persons may be granted access to highly classified information. There are innumerable other examples of situations where an individual's identity must be quickly and positively established.
Photographs and fingerprints are very common means of identification. Driver's licenses, for example, often contain one or both of the owner's photograph and a fingerprint. These means of identification are not very secure, however, since it is relatively easy for skilled forgers to alter such identification and thus provide an imposter with apparently legitimate identification.
The present invention is concerned with providing a means for identification which cannot be altered so that when the item, such as a credit card or access card, is presented, the recipient can be assured that the presenter is who he or she claims to be.